Mike Shinoda: New Linkin Park singer would have to “happen naturally”

"I'm not running out and putting up 'vocalist wanted' posters"

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The summer will mark two years since the tragic death of Chester Bennington, and his Linkin Park bandmates continue to ponder the future of the multiplatinum rock act. In a new interview, co-vocalist Mike Shinoda opens up for the first time extensively about the possibility of recruiting a new singer for the band.

While chatting with Germany’s Rock Antenne, Shinoda was asked if the band would ever look for a new singer to replace Bennington, and he replied, “That’s not my goal right now. I think it has to happen naturally. And if we find somebody that’s a great person that we think is a good personality fit and a good stylistic fit, then I could see trying to do some stuff with somebody. Not for the sake of replacing… I wouldn’t wanna ever feel like we were replacing Chester.”

While Shinoda released a solo album, Post Traumatic, and has toured in support of the disc, he said the other Linkin Park members weren’t ready to make music yet. “We all thrive making and performing music, and so to not do that, I think, is hard. It definitely would be hard for me. I didn’t wanna spend the last year not doing it, and I knew that the band was not ready to do it, so I wanted to go do it myself.”

He added, “I know the other guys, they love to get onstage, they love to be in the studio, and so to not do that would be — I don’t know — almost unhealthy. If doing that means that we need to have some other people in the mix in order to do it and do it well, then we would do that.”

“I think there are many fans that want to continue to see the guys onstage and wanna continue to hear the music,” Shinoda continued, “and if we put a show up online, they’ll wanna come. So as long as that connection and interest is there, I think that’s a driving force to figure it out. But, like I said before, it has to happen naturally. I’m not running out and putting up ‘vocalist wanted’ posters. I think that’s wholly inappropriate and probably a terrible idea.”

For now, Shinoda will be embarking on a European tour that will kick off March 2nd in Berlin, Germany. His full itinerary can be seen here.